(Updated 9/11/20) GETTING YOUR NEW BIKE- OUR SECRET WEAPON! Most everyone knows bikes are in short supply by now; KCBS even came by to do a news story featuring us and the bike shortage.  We have 1300 bikes on backorder right now. Just our single shop. 1300 bikes scheduled to arrive between now and June. We work with Trek daily, studying availability dates and creating a list that shows which bikes are coming in, and when. If anything's changed, Becky and Karen send emails with the updated status, often more than 50 in one session. Sometimes they get to make people really happy and tell them their new bike is coming in sooner than expected! And sometimes they have to deliver the bad news that delays at the port in Long Beach have added a week or two to the delivery time.
 
One thing is absolute. Once you place an order with Chain Reaction, nobody gets to cut in line in front of you, and, if someone changes to a different model, everyone else in line for that bike moves up one place. This means you never have to worry that a bike might come in that you want but somebody else snags it. You place an order, once, and we do the hard part.
 
(Revisited 8/27/20) PLEASE READ BEFORE CALLING OR COMING IN- We suggest not calling or visiting the store during the first hour we're open. We cannot handle all of the phone calls coming in. We are also hitting another peak time between 3-5pm during which you might not get through. There is some easing up we've seen lately though; it's not quite as crazy now (September) as it has been the prior three months. For the time being we suggest sending emails for bike availability questions (to Bikes@ChainReaction.com) if you cannot get through; we will try to respond later that day. Thank you, and please know that we are doing everything we can to come out the other side of this in one piece and look forward to things returning to normal again. 

WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN COMING TO THE STORE-

• Masks are required. And not just any mask; they must be non-vented masks, as per county instructions. That means... no vents. What's a "vent"? It's something built into some masks that allows air to be filtered coming in, but not when you exhale. Perfect for air pollution! Terrible if the goal is to reduce stuff they're breathing into the air, towards other people. And please, if we see a nose, or a mouth, we will ask you to cover up. 
• You will need to wait at the door for assistance. As soon as someone is available to help, we will come out and find out what you need, and make sure you're taken care of. We will try to save you time; if you're looking for something we can't help with, we'll let you know immediately. We are doing this to reduce congestion in the store for a safer Covid-19-aware environment, protecting both you and our staff.
• Bikes are the new hand sanitizer. Or toilet paper. Or whatever is impossible to find. Demand for bikes is huge; mountain bikes & hybrids below $2000 are available for pre-order with an unsold bike hitting the floor being a rare and short-lived event. Kids bikes are just beginning to come back into stock in sizes for 3-7 year olds; bigger kids bikes could be a 1-3 month wait. We do have over 1300 bikes on backorder and know what is coming in, and when, so we can take orders ahead of time, making sure you get what you want. It just won't often be as soon as we'd like! 
• Until we move to our new location, we are unable to accept bikes for repair that weren't purchased from us. Even with that awful restriction, we are backed up 4 weeks. This is unbelievable and nearly unworkable. We are doing everything we can but it's not enough. We have run out of places to put them so, for now, repairs are on an appointment basis only. Bring the bike in a day or two ahead of time, and we'll have it ready on the scheduled day. Cancellations do not move things forward; we have adopted the airline model of over booking, assuming some won't show up. When everything does show up, we're in for a very long evening.
• Calling the store. OH. MY. GOSH. We used to average 5-6 calls an hour. We now get a call every 2 minutes, with all three lines often in use (added 9/11- the number of calls are decreasing, but still way above normal). There will be times when you get our recording, during our regular business hours (from opening until noon, and again from 2:30-4:30pm). Our first priority has to be to the customers in the store and lined up outside. Please call back in 15-30 minutes, or send an email to MikeJ@ChainReaction.com and we'll get back to you later that day.
• Please respect our efforts to sanitize the sales process. We will be cleaning our credit card machines immediately prior to every single sale, using alcohol. It takes a bit more time, but so far, no infections among our staff. We can't afford to lose a single person, and quarantine hitting a shop employee is not something we can afford to have happen. 

Thanks for your patience! Mike & Steve & Becky & Karen & Kevin & Lexi & Cooke & Roger & Jose & Rolando & Don & Sonia & Becky (Becky twice because somehow she got left out of the original list, despite being the person responsible for compiling the list of backorders and keeping the pre-sold bikes straight)